I had a basic question yesterday that reminded me of one of the core values of GenealogyBank – it’s flexible search engine.
A woman wrote asking for the obituary notice of her father – who had died in December 2008 – but she had not included her father’s name. So I wrote back asking her for that detail.
While I waited for her response I thought – you know, GenealogyBank’s search engine can find his obituary even without knowing his name.
Here’s how I did it.
Step One. 
I first entered what I knew – the name of his daughter and the month/year that he died. I left all of the other search fields blank. I reasoned that the obituary would likely include the name of his children and close relatives – in this case, the name of his daughter.
Step Two
There was only one hit that met that search criteria. 
Step Three
Bingo – it was the correct obituary.
Tip: Be flexible in your searches.
GenealogyBank indexes over 4,200 newspapers published over the last 300+ years. You may search by the name of the deceased or by other persons named in the obituary or news article. Search on every clue.